Princeton Hires Planning Firm For Westminster Choir College Site

PRINCETON, NJ — On Monday, Council adopted a resolution hiring a Newark-based firm to provide planning services for the Westminster Choir College site.

This marks another step forward in Princeton's plans for the Westminster site.

The Municipality has hired Topology NJ LLC to provide planning services for an amount not to exceed $115,000, according to the resolution.

The scope of work in this contract consists of four phases, with deliverables for each phase.

Here are the details:

• Phase I: Develop a project plan including key decision points and a preliminary stakeholder engagement plan;
• Phase II: Develop an informed project vision, including four small group stakeholder meetings and a virtual public outreach exercise;
• Phase III: Explore design alternatives, with three design alternatives developed including concept diagrams and narrative summaries of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. Four small group stakeholder meetings, two broader, in-person open house-type engagement workshops and an online engagement process are proposed for public comment on the design alternatives
• Phase IV: Develop a preferred alternative, based on information gathered in the previous three phases, to result in a capstone presentation including a preferred alternative with a concept diagram, financial feasibility assessment, programming plan for municipal sites, and implementation plan.

This work is expected to take place for up to 15 months, according to a memo by Planning Director Justin Lesko.

“Chris Colley, AICP, PP, a principal at the firm and licensed professional planner, will be overseeing the project. Common Ground Design, an award-winning design firm out of Nashville, will prepare design alternatives as described in Phase III below under Topology’s leadership,” Lesko said in his memo.

Last year, Council adopted an ordinance to move ahead with its plans to acquire the Westminster Choir College on 101 Walnut Lane.

The ordinance authorizes the acquisition of the property “by negotiation, purchase, condemnation or eminent domain.”

The Westminster Choir College (WCC) campus belongs to Rider University and in 2019, Rider moved its students to the University’s main campus in Lawrenceville.

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